By STEPHANIE ZACHAREK August 29, 2013

Few political figures have given liberals of a certain age more pleasure than Richard Nixon. To watch such an unrepentant and obvious liar fall so far and so spectacularly was something to behold in 1974. For anyone politically cognizant at the time, his resignation represented the glowing, Venn-diagram center of disillusionment and hope: Your country's leader could use the scummiest tactics to preserve his little fiefdom (terrible), but he could also be brought down (amazing). Now, of course, we live mostly in the disillusionment segment of the diagram: We monitor even the leaders we essentially like, just to make sure they're worthy of our trust. But the fall of Nixon will always shimmer like a golden flame in our memories. As a friend of mine often says, he's the gift... More >>>